Dozens missing, one dead in FL building collapse
A massive search and rescue operation was underway Thursday after a 12-story oceanfront building partially collapsed in southern Florida, with at least one person dead and dozens still unaccounted for.
RESIDENT BARRY COHEN: “I was in a deep sleep and I heard an incredible bang that I figured was a lightning storm.”
Barry Cohen and his wife are residents of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida.
RESIDENT BARRY COHEN: “It kept on going for like thirty seconds. And my wife and I got whatever we could together and we went to leave our apartment and we opened up the door of our apartment and there was a huge pile of rubble and dust and just havoc."
He said they were rescued by a fireman who had a cherry-picker and got them out of the building.
Built in 1981, the Champlain Towers South had more than 130 units, about 80 of which were occupied.
RAY JADALLAH: “At 1:30 this morning, we responded to a building collapse."
Assistant Fire Chief with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Ray Jadallah said that rescuers were moving in "heavy equipment" and working to support the remaining structure of the building.
RAY JADALLAH: “35 people were pulled out of the structure and part of the collapse, but not from the rubble, but 2 were pulled from the rubble”
Officials said it was unclear how many people were still missing. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the building quote “literally pancaked”, adding that construction work was being done on the roof, but it was unclear whether the project involved any heavy gear.
MAYOR BURKETT:"This is from the 80's. There's no reason for a building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath or they get washed out, or there's a sinkhole or something like that because it just went down… That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean to me that we're going to be as successful as we wanted to be finding people alive."
